December 06, 2017

The God Guarantee

Issue No. 374 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting highlights some counter-cultural thinking about building your “platform.” Could be dangerous reading ahead! And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and check out my recent book reviews on this page.

Jack Alexander’s new book, The God Guarantee, says you can find freedom from the fear of not having enough. He notes, “The feeling of scarcity impacts every level of society. In a 2015 survey of American millionaires, more than half said they did not feel financially secure.” Yikes.

Meaty chapters abound, but I was especially struck with the author’s counter-cultural insights in Chapter 5, “The Wilderness and the Marketplace.” Building the book around four themes from the feeding of the 5,000, and two lies (scarcity versus prosperity theology), Alexander writes “When Jesus broke the loaves and fish, he showed us something about the wilderness. Before the bread could multiply into a blessing for everyone nearby, it first had to be torn to pieces.”

Do you shun difficult seasons and wilderness experiences—and view them like a “trip to the spiritual dentist?” Don’t, says Alexander. And in learning this lesson to embrace the wilderness—and why—one Bible verse for the author has “become one of the most precious passages to me in all of God’s Word.” See the “Hall of Fame of Faith” in Hebrews 11:34 from the J.B. Phillips New Testament:

“From being weaklings they became strong men and mighty warriors.”

What’s counter-cultural? “Plenty of resources today show people of faith how to impact the marketplace. But if we are truly going to reap the reward of God’s abundance and live in the ways he describes in Scripture, then we need to also think about the opposite. It’s more important to show people in the marketplace how to experience God in the wilderness.”

Alexander urges us to “make friends with the wilderness” and his biblical case is convicting. His personal journey—whew!—overwhelming. His transparency—humbling. So what makes this book a must-read? Seven themes:

#1. Cup, Sleeve, Napkin. This will preach (and it’s been preached). We tilt toward wanting to be the cup, but sometimes God calls us to be the sleeve—to support the cup. Or, maybe in this season of your life/career, you’re the napkin—cleaning up other messes. (I told you it would preach!)

#2. Potential vs. Capacity. “Searching for potential…encourages people to be intuitive, not prayerful and open.” I need to think about this.

#3. “Prayerful risk-taking pleases God.” Alexander: “In Mark 6:5-6, Jesus ‘could not do any miracles [in his hometown]…. He was amazed at their lack of faith.’”

#4. Core Values—Simplified. The Old Testament had 613 laws. Those were wordsmithed into 10 commandments. Micah 6:8 has three commands: “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.” Jesus summarized it all into a memorable duo (Matthew 22:37-40, MSG), and added this: “These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”

#5. Work vs. Grace. Dallas Willard: “Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning.” Eventually, Alexander shares how he went from “my time, my talent, my treasure, my assets” to understanding there was more “me” in that approach—“and not a lot of God.”

#6. Platform Platitudes. “We pray for chances to lead, for platforms…so we can use them to help others and advance the kingdom. We may see ourselves as invaluable.” Yikes! Every PR guru says to grow and leverage your platform, right? Maybe…(just thinkin’ like Jesus here)…that’s upside down?

#7. Two Golf Stories. Get this! Jack Alexander golfed in a Pro-Am (four amateurs and one pro) with another Jack—Jack Nicklaus! It took the author a while to realize the “Jack! Jack! Jack!” chants from the gallery were not for Jack Alexander! And don’t miss his story of being invited to golf at the famous Long Island, N.Y., course, Shinnecock Hills—then being asked to leave the premises!

You likely have several friends and colleagues (donors, even) who would deeply appreciate receiving this book as a gift. (See “4 Groups of Givers” below.)

One more thought: Every author should steal Alexander’s pop quiz exercise at the end of each chapter (including an online assessment). Brilliant! At the end of Chapter 5 (and all eight chapters), you’re invited to evaluate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10. Where are you: 1, 5, or 10?

[ ] 1 – “When I have trials, I think God, if he exists, does not love me. I cannot get over my anger and discouragement.”[ ] 5– “I try to persevere in my trials, but I still struggle with seeing good or purpose coming out of these challenges.”[ ] 10 – “I believe I need to make friends with the wilderness and to see that this reordering of my life is part of God’s plan.”

If you lead a nonprofit or church (or you’re a donor to one or more) Mark Dillon says you must become a student of the four groups of givers:

• THE GIFTED GIVER(2-5% of givers) will show up at the dedication of a new building and ask, “What’s next?” • THE THOUGHTFUL GIVER (15-25% of givers) tends to calibrate giving to current income “and rarely involves lowering their net worth to fund what they care about.” • THE CASUAL GIVER(35-50% of givers) “possesses a vague understanding of their obligation to be faithful and generous stewards of their resources, but rarely seek out opportunities to give. They usually give in response to a specific request.”• THE RELUCTANT GIVER (perhaps 33% of givers) may be “an overly generous description, because many in this category give very little of their resources for any charitable purpose.” Easy to offend, they’ve had few, if any generosity mentors in their lives.

Each group, of course, needs a different and thoughtful approach. One size doesn’t fit all. One general, ho hum, generic direct mail piece will not suffice.For more, read my review of Giving & Getting in the Kingdom: A Field Guide, by R. Mark Dillon.

Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free one to three times a month to subscribers, the frequency of which is based on an algorithm of book length, frequent flyer miles, and client deadlines. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As a board member and raving fan of Christian Community Credit Union (a non-profit), we proudly list the credit union as a sponsor at no charge. And...in this issue we also salute Bible Incubator, an initiative of CrossSection.